Master Brand and Membership Strategist

Role: Master Brand and Membership Strategist Contract:3months Pay: £500 per day via Umbrella, inside IR35 Location: Manchester, Hybrid We're looking for a strategic thinker to define and evolve our brand promise, customer value, and membership proposition—ensuring clarity, distinctiveness, and consistency across all customer touchpoints. This role will be a critical partner to marketing managers, ensuring all marketing activity builds long-term brand equity while driving short-term outcomes. Key Responsibilities Brand Strategy & Positioning Develop and refine brand promise, tone of voice, and messaging frameworks. Work with stakeholders to develop propositions and proof points into potential messages within the brand platform. Create and manage the long-term Master Brand plan. Ensure alignment of brand and customer strategy with company purpose, customer insight, and commercial priorities. Translate brand positioning into creative and campaign planning (including campaign-ready guidance). Evolve brand strategy in response to results, trends, and cultural shifts. Brand Architecture & Guidelines Define and evolve brand architecture to support multiple tiers (e.g., own-label, value ranges, sustainability). Create and manage brand toolkits, ensuring consistency across visual identity and verbal expression. Act as the guardian of brand promise across internal teams and external agencies. Customer Insight & Competitive Context Partner with research and insight teams to understand customer perception, need states, and emotional drivers. Define target audiences at brand level. Monitor competitor brand activity and macro consumer trends to shape brand evolution. Bring a forward-looking perspective to keep the brand relevant in culture and category. Strategic Enablement Support marketing managers by creating strategic briefs and input into campaign plans, ensuring strong brand linkage. Shape upstream thinking on new propositions, categories, partnerships, or brand activations. Identify growth opportunities. Help define the brand role in key customer journeys and long-term planning cycles. Internal Collaboration & Influence Collaborate closely with marketing, creative, product, commercial, and agency teams. Contribute to brand training and alignment sessions across the business. Translate strategy into usable guidance for non-brand teams, helping them "live the brand" in their work. Skills & Experience Essential 5+ years' experience in brand strategy, planning, or marketing strategy (agency or in-house). Strong grasp of brand building principles and how to apply them in commercial contexts. Excellent skills in insight synthesis, positioning development, and storytelling. Familiarity with creative development processes, agency collaboration, and how propositions translate into creative output (advertising and/or content). Confident influencing at all levels, with ability to simplify the complex. Experience working in large consumer-facing organisations with multiple stakeholders. Desirable Background in FMCG, retail, or supermarket environments. Experience in brand architecture, sub-brands, and/or own-label strategy. Strong understanding of customer segmentation, research techniques, and behavioural insight. Experience in agile ways of working and/or matrix environments. Behaviours & Attributes Strategic thinker with a strong sense of customer and cultural empathy. Passionate about building brands with purpose and consistency. Curious and insightful, loves digging into research and trends. Collaborative, persuasive, and trusted as a strategic partner. Balances creativity with pragmatism; can think big but act commercially.